#2getherwearebetter Linky: Bulletin Boards

I am oh so excited to be teaming up with teachers literally all over the globe

to bring you a wonderful linky

#2getherwearebetter.

Thanks to Ashley and Angie for giving us the encouragement to do this.

They are the leads in this, so you know it is going to be

FANTASTIC!!!!

Check out all the action here.

This month we are going to be talking about:

This year I have had a love/hate relationship with bulletin boards.

One of my boards (pictured below) is almost too small to do anything with it.
I have a bunch of ideas, but don't know what my students are going to need,
so until I meet them and get to know them much better,
this will have to do.
We are going Whole Brain Teaching this year and they will not be familiar with the
terminology.  I am hoping this can help them remember.
*** Bonus for me - something's on it!

The chalkboard to the left of the bulletin board has been many things.
It has been our "Moment of Silence" board and our "Today's Special" board.
This year, with it being right behind my reading group buckets,
I am doing a quote or thought.
I don't know if I will change them every day or once a week.
I am getting them from the
365 Days of Wonder: Mr. Browne's Book of Precepts.

Any ideas you have for either of these boards, is MORE THAN welcome!

This board is probably one of my favorites.

A few years ago we had a school theme of The Energy Bus.

Each room in the school was a bus stop, and I was the Cafe!

Now we are superheroes saving Gotham City (our school), so we get to keep our themes -

Hallelujah!

Since I am the Cafe, I have a lot of chefs and cupcakes all over the room.

My plan for this board is to write recipes for different skills we learn throughout the year.

We will write them on big recipe cards like the ones you see on the board already.

I also plan on having smaller cards for the kids to write their own recipes.

We will place all the recipes in a recipe box, so we can look at them all during the year.

I will admit - I am SUPER excited about where this board can go!

I am sorry this picture is blurry. That's what I get for not checking before I left school.

However, I think you get the idea.

I love this board so much it has not been changed in 3 years!  GASP!!

Before you hang me out to dry, let me tell you what is behind all that fabric - 

A CORK BOARD!

Yes, that's right!  You can't staple on a cork board.  You can't really do much of anything on a cork board except - HOT GLUE.

The first year I had this room, I literally had 2 days to get my room ready.

So, we had to go easy and quick.

Therefore, you have what you see before you. Every piece you see from border to fabric to aluminum pans are hot glued onto that board.

I really dread the day I have to take it down.

This is our student work board inside our classroom.

Each chocolate chip cookie has a name of a student and is hot glued to a clothespin which is hot glued to the pan.

Most of the time, I allow the students to choose what is put on the board.

Sometimes, I request a specific work of art.

Mainly, though, it is their brag board.

The main reason it is their brag board is because I decide what is placed out in the hall.

I know this isn't your typical bulletin board, but it is a place that has been transformed to a place where work, skills and ideas are displayed.

To go along with our superhero theme at the school, we sent each student a superhero to color (that post is coming on Wednesday).  When they come, we are going to hang them out in the hall around our part of the city.

Later, these names will hold the work of students that I want displayed out in the hall.

Here is a closer look at the names....

My whole perception of bulletin boards has changed since I was in college and my first years of teaching.  Here would be my tips:

1.  Choose a simple 2 color theme.  Mine is red and black with a bit of white thrown in as well.

2.  Think of board ideas that can last you almost all year. You do want some boards that are changed during the year, but as you get wrapped up in the actual teaching, you find the boards fall to the back of the list.  I really try to make my boards to where they can have parts changed, but the basis stays the same.

3. Use fabric.  This was HUGE for me!  I was a little worried about the black fabric fading, but both of my boards with the black face a wall that is FULL WINDOWS.  It has lasted me 3 year now.  Once it is up, its stays up.  Our Fire Marshall does make us spray the fabric with a spray that is suppose to help during a fire - I don't know.  We have issues with our Fire Marshall!

I make my letters for my boards with my cricut.

This year I used the cartridge Cuttin' Up!

It's cute and fun.

I do use border and when I find a border I like, I buy a lot of it.  

I cover my clothespins that are hot glued all over my room with strips of it.

I cover ugly parts of whatever with it.

I just like everything to match.

As I mentioned earlier, I would love to hear any suggestions you have!

I am an open book!

Thanks for stopping by. Be sure to come back - especially next month for my FULL classroom reveal!

Back to School Bash Linky Series: Classroom Set Up

I am so excited

(and WAY nervous)

to be part of my very first linky series and giveaway.

For the next 4 Wednesdays, we will be linking up with teachers to share

great back to school information as well as

GIVEAWAYS!!!!

You don't want to miss this!

This week it is all about 

This is something I agonize over each year as I walk into my room for the first time.

Unfortunately, there is not much I can do differently with my room because of the design.

Luckily, I love how my room has worked for me in years past, so I don't have to do

a lot of major changes.

Before I start, the pictures I am using are NOT what my room looks like at this moment in time.
My room, sadly, is not photographic ready.
Come back later for a TRUE classroom preview.

Basically, I have 3 things I am adamant about in my room.

1. Groups - we do a lot of group work in my classroom, so I want the students

to be able to be together.  I think it is critical that the students have a space that allows them to work independently as well as in a group in a moment's notice.
Therefore, I have my students in groups of 6.  I am also blessed to have 18 students, so
3 groups fits in the room as well as fitting my needs perfectly.  You can see part of the desks area in the bottom right hand corner of the picture below.  I have placed a small bookshelf at each group of desks to hold items that groups may need.

You will also see the yellow group table.  On this table, the students find their group boxes and assignments for the day.  Everything they need to get started is in their box. This has worked beautifully!

2.  Teacher Table - When I got my own room (the first year I team taught with a teacher and we shared a room), I got rid of my desk and decided to use my horseshoe table as my station.
I have not missed it ONE. BIT.  This area is close to my fire window, so I can't put a whole lot around my table.  I have what I need at my reach and really would not change it for the world.

You will see I do have a bookshelf or two with items that I need
 as far as books and notebooks are concerned.
You will see at the end of the table that I have a white crate with a lid.
This crate holds seasonal books.  On top, you will see a black crate.  Inside this crate, I keep
notecards, my supplies and bookmarks.
On the other side, is another white crate holding reading games I can get to at a moment's notice.  On top of it, is another crate holding files for me - each group has a file located here, each student has a file, etc.  This has worked WONDERS!!
I really do love this area of the room.

3.  Library - My entire room centers around this part.  Being an ELA teacher, this is the most important part of our room, and it quickly becomes the favorite part of the room of the children.  I try to make it as comfy as possible and as accessible as possible as well.  I have between 2000-3000 books in my library and more set aside for special holidays and special units of study.  Boxes of different sizes work wonders for organizing the books by author, theme or genre.
Yes, I have all of those in my library.

If there is anything, you have questions about, please comment and I will get back with you asap.
It may also inspire a future post on the blog!
Thank you for visiting and/or joining this
BACK TO SCHOOL BASH!

See you all next Wednesday for more!

Don't forget this is a linky party AND a giveaway.

Here's the giveaway part.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

I want to see what YOU do now...
Please feel free to link-up with us and share your AMAZING Classroom Set-Up and Organization Ideas!  We simply ask that you follow these simple rules:

• Save the images above and use them on your post to link back to our party!
• Enter your link below and encourage your friends to do the same!
• Be a friendly blogger--> visit other blogs in the Linky party and leave thoughtful commentary to the 2 blogs ahead of you and at least 1 behind you!

An InLinkz Link-up

Monday Made it: June 29

I can't believe June is almost over!

In ONE MONTH, I go for county wide inservice, and I know this month is going to FLY!

I have really enjoyed the blogging world this summer.

I have learned SO much and, to be honest, I am VERY overwhelmed.

However, I know it is going to make me a better teacher - which is my goal.

One of my favorites as been Monday Made It by 4th Grade Frolics!

This is what I did this week!

I have done a little for school - not much, but a little.

I am also working with the TPT Sellers Challenge this summer, and have enjoyed taking the first task to heart.

This week I recreated my calendar set and really like the way it turned out.

It is free right now in my TPT store and you can click here to read about what I did.

Last week we had the pleasure of my nephew and niece coming to visit us.

We had a great time

creating memories!!!

We had movie time in the tent inside our living room.

We watched movies and ate popcorn and M&M's.

We played outside in the sprinkler and with water balloons.

Although there is a HUGE age difference between my kids and my nephew and niece, they get along beautifully! It is always a special time when we are together.

While Walker and Lucy were here, we had VBS at church and I had 2 days of training (which I will blog about later).  So one night for supper we needed something quick, easy and light - it was almost 100 degrees every day last week.

One of my teacher friends, Belinda, had made this salad for us and it was a huge hit!
I decided to make it for supper one night.

Here is the pin for it.

Now, it calls for some kind of Ranch dip that I did not have and had forgotten to get when I was at Wal-Mart.  So, I used a package of normal Ranch mix and added 1 Tablespoon of taco seasoning to it. It worked!  The taco seasoning I use is from this recipe.  When a recipe calls for a package of taco seasoning, I use 2 Tablespoons.  It's good stuff.  Also, I did not add the Fritos to the salad. I kept them to the side because the longer it sits, the better it is.

Finally, the last thing I did this week was for my Sunday School classroom.  Like I mentioned earlier, we had had VBS this past week with an Egyptian theme.  Some of my UBER talented friends had used these decorations in their center and were going to throw them away!!! (SHAME!)

So, they let me have the decorations for my Kindergarten Bible classroom, and we (being myself and the kiddos) worked the magic to make everything look like this.

Maybe I will do more this week to get ready for school....
Or maybe not!

Cooking Up Success Calendar

When I decided to do a Cafe/Bakery theme a few years ago,

I quickly realized there was NOTHING out there for this room theme.

Therefore, I was made had to figure out to make different things to fit my classroom theme.

I have always seemed to make things harder than they really have to be.

One of the very first things I made was this calendar set.

It was BAD!

I put it up on TPT for free, and it was still BAD!

So, I decided to spruce it up a bit as well as add some things to it. 

Here are the month cards.

I figure you can use them as headers for your calendars, but could also put them at a center to put the months of the year in order.

 I then decided to add number cards to the set as well.

They were in a separate set, but, again, needed a makeover!

Again, these could also be used at a center to put numbers in order.

 In a previous set, I had some special days cards, but while I was on a roll, I decided to do a little more with them.

I love using these in my room, and can't wait to see how the new set looks in my room this year.

You can get this set here for FREE for a limited time!

I will be honest - 

It took quite a bit of time, so they will not stay free for long!

Hope these can help you

Cook Up Success

in your room this year.

Welcome to the Cafe!!!

Our school theme for the past few years has been The Energy Bus and each classroom takes on a 

bus stop.  As I was planning what I would do, I was knee deep in studying The Daily 5 and Cafe books, so I decided to do a cafe theme.

There is not a lot out there!

I had fun planning it and getting it all together.

Each year I have added a little bit more to the room and just love being in my room!

I think that is important!

Here's a look at my room.

The reading area... I wanted it to be a place that was open and inviting to all who came in the room.

I made the big sign at the top of the wall with my cricut.

My mom made the cute pillows and one of the quilts.

Last year's partner teacher had her mother make me the other quilt.  The kids love spreading the quilts and pillows out to read.

Standing in the library, you see my desk area. I got rid of my desk a few years ago and

DO. NOT. MISS. IT!

This is where I have my reading groups and writing conferences.  The white board immediately behind my chair is HORRIBLE! It is not magnetic nor can you write on it very well.

So, I hot glued clothespins to hang my anchor charts!  I will also have a focus poster for each reading group because each group will be focusing on different skills and vocabulary.  Those will also hang there.

Above my alphabet is our AR word countdown.  We started focusing on word count instead of tests taken or points earned.  The kids loved it and were so excited that we read 7 million words!! (Not bad for only having 14 kids!)

Those cupcakes will help us keep up with how many words we have read.

I also have my job chart (which is an apron and proof that I cannot draw!) on the PVC piping chart.

My data boards are below my white boards.  Each child will have a secret number or letter on a cupcake to show their growth throughout the year.

Another view from my library is our Great Work board.  This is one of my favorite parts of the room.

Each pie or cookie pan has a clothespin attached to it with a student's name on a chef's hat.  We hang work they are proud of or something we need to keep up with on this board.

Here's another look at my fat apron job chart.  On the yellow table (that my friend keeps trying to convince me to paint with chalkboard paint), I have supply drawers as well as my reading group tubs.  You see in the picture my great helper - my daughter, LB!  The older she gets the more help she becomes in my room!  Our social studies standards have changed and we are focusing on continents this first semester.  My continent is Australia. I can't wait to take the kids DOWN UNDER!

As soon as you walk in the room I have this huge cabinet to my right.  It winds up being the perfect spot for our behavior charts. I have the rainbow chart for individuals and the brownie point chart for the class.  I love both of them!

That is the majority of my room.  My desks were not picture ready when I took the rest of these. When I have them like I want them, I will take pictures of them!  I am excited about my new third graders coming to the Cafe! I hope we cook up a lot of success this year!

Getting Ready for a New Year

As I type, I am sitting in Nashville, TN, in my brother-in-law's house enjoying family time, but really wishing I was at the baseball field watching my 8 year old son's All-Star team playing baseball in the state tournament.  However,  because of a monsoon that decided to hit Middle Tennessee in mid-July (which I really am thankful for because we needed the rain) we have not played a game in two days! YUCK!

Now, I am NOT worried ONE BIT about when I am going to get things done in my room.  I mean, really, kids DON'T come to school in less than 3 weeks, and I am NOT sitting 2 1/2 hours away from my room.  However, I know that family and friends will pull together if I need to and things will be wonderful!

I have been able to get a lot of work done on my classroom - just not IN my classroom - while I am sitting watching the monsoon happen.  I am excited about my classroom this year.  After my 9 year maternity leave, I am anxious to have my own room this year. Anxious . . . excited . . . nervous . . .you name it, I am probably feeling it.  I can't wait to share with you the progress the room has seen, but for now (since there has been no progress made IN the room), I will share with you what I have been creating for the room.

I am doing a chef/bakery theme in the classroom.  It was inspired by the Sisters and their CAFE book.  That is how I plan on doing my reading this year, so I thought it would be a cute yet "grown up" theme for the third graders that get to be in my room.

Check out my TPT store to see the calendar headings I have made as well as the calendar numbers I have made to go with them.  I am super excited about it and can't wait to show you pictures of them actually up on the board!!!!